Loan Consolidation

The majority of lenders offer student loan consolidation programs to student borrowers. Careful research and planning should precede a decision to consolidate your outstanding student loans. Please refer to our summary below of the advantages and disadvantages of a loan consolidation program.

The Department of Education maintains a website which contains more detailed information regarding loan consolidation at www.direct.ed.gov.

Advantages and Disadvantages
There are certain advantages with loan consolidation, including:

• lower interest rate
  lower monthly payments
  flexible repayment terms
  one payment to one bank

There are also certain disadvantages with loan consolidation, including:

• more interest paid over the life of the loan with an extended repayment period
• borrower benefits can change (deferment, grace period, etc.)